The Answer You Want
by Violet-Amy
Summary: Archie asks if Jughead is attracted to him. Sequel to Probably Not Actually Flowers.


Nothing really changes between Jughead and Archie, as far as anyone else can tell. That is, no one has said anything, so Jughead assumes they can't tell. Well, Betty commented once that she was glad they made up, but that's it.

Strangely enough, no one else seems to notice the dopey, lovesick looks Jughead sometimes catches Archie giving him in school. Jughead mentions this once as they're walking from school to Archie's house, not to admonish Archie exactly (they're not _intentionally_ concealing anything, after all, just being discreet), but more to express his surprise at the obliviousness of their classmates.

Archie laughs and takes his hand for just a second and says, "You're adorably clueless."

Jughead stops walking. "I am neither adorable nor clueless. What the hell are you talking about?"

Archie takes a step back to where Jughead stopped. "No one has noticed because they're all used to it. I've been looking at you that way since freshman year. You're not exactly one to talk about other people being oblivious."

So, yeah, it's pretty much back to normal for them when they're in public.

And things aren't really that different when they're in private either...except for the kissing.

It turns out Jughead really likes it. He's not sure what it means for him that he does, and usually he would obsess over this sort of thing, but somehow he just manages to enjoy it without overthinking (or thinking at all, really).

Archie seems to like it too, of course. Archie likes it so much that he's almost always the one to announce they have to stop. The few times Jughead has announced they had to stop, it's been for a legitimate reason, like they had to get to school. Though he guesses Archie's usual reason for needing to stop is pretty legitimate too.

One afternoon they're sitting on Archie's bed kissing, and Archie stops him much sooner than usual. Seriously, it hasn't even been ten minutes. "Really?" Jughead asks as Archie pulls back from him. "Already?"

"Not _that_ exactly," Archie says. "I just want to ask you something."

Jughead instantly feels his guard go up. It's completely against his will, but he can't help it. "What?" he asks, and he hopes he doesn't sound suspicious.

"It's just...you haven't said anything about whether you're maybe not ace after all, and I guess you'd tell me if you had an uncontrollable urge to rip my clothes off and have your way with me, but like...I can't tell if you're even attracted to me at all."

"I spend virtually all my free time making out with you, and you can't tell if I'm attracted to you at all?"

"No, I know! And it's great! But, like, it's just my lips. I mean, do you like my...body? Like at all?"

Jughead can't believe someone who looks like Archie could actually be insecure about his body. "Duh," he says. "You're objectively the best-looking guy in Riverdale."

Archie's head drops a little. "I don't mean objectively. I mean do _you_ like it?"

"Oh." Jughead gets it now, he thinks. Archie didn't dispute the assertion that he's objectively the best-looking guy in Riverdale, so it's probably not insecurity talking. "You don't actually mean do I like it. You mean does it turn me on."

"I mean..." Is Archie blushing? Jughead can't tell for sure because he's still looking down, but it seems like it. "Does it?"

Jughead wishes he hadn't helped Archie with the words he couldn't come up with. Just to avoid having to answer, he counters with the totally ridiculous, "Does mine turn you on?"

Jughead expects Archie to laugh at the question (and hopes he'll drop the subject entirely as a result), but Archie catches him off guard by answering, "So much, Jug. I want to..." Archie reaches out but stops before he touches him. "I'm not saying we have to feel the same way. I mean, it would be pretty great if we did, but... Anyway, I think I have to know."

Well. If that's how Archie actually feels—and it's hard to believe, but he looks so sincere—then Jughead probably owes him an answer.

 _I can't give you the answer you want._

Jughead knows that's what Archie told Betty when she asked him how he felt, and he knows how the answer crushed her. It's probably what he should say to Archie right now—it's probably the most accurate response—but he just can't bring himself to say it.

But maybe...

Maybe he hasn't tried hard enough. Or...he shouldn't have to _try_ , he guesses, but maybe he doesn't know because he hasn't really looked. He shouldn't tell Archie no if there's a chance the answer is actually yes, right? "Why don't you take off your shirt and let me look?"

"Really!?" Archie looks like a puppy offered a treat. He stands while trying to pull his t-shirt over his head before he even has his letterman jacket off, and he gets his arms stuck in the sleeves above his head, which is covered with both the t-shirt and the jacket, and he loses his balance and bumps into Jughead's knees. Jughead stands and helps him get free of the troublesome garments.

And then Jughead really looks, acutely aware of Archie watching him look.

Archie's upper body is...well, it's very attractive by any objective standard. Any objective standard that considers muscles attractive, anyway. (Which proves Archie is not himself objective about Jughead, who's maybe not totally hideous according to commonly accepted standards, but on whom one would have a difficult time locating a visible ab, for example.) But that's not the question, and Archie is trying not to show how impatient he is for an answer, and Jughead still doesn't know what to say. He doesn't think he's "turned on." He doesn't have a boner, anyway; is that the only way you can tell? What else would it feel like?

Wait. _Feel_ like.

"Can I touch?"

"Absolutely!" Archie agrees eagerly.

Jughead sort of regrets asking, but he can't take it back now. Carefully he places both palms flat against Archie's pectorals. The skin is so warm, and stupidly he blurts out, "You're hot."

Archie gets the biggest grin Jughead thinks he's ever seen. "Really? You think so?" Jughead doesn't have the heart to tell him he just meant it literally. He can't bring himself to say anything at all, and he can't keep looking at Archie's stupid adorable grin with the omission hanging there, and so he circles around and places his hands on Archie's shoulders.

Archie sighs.

No. Wait. No, that was Jughead who sighed.

Archie's skin feels really _good_ under his fingers. Still not boner-inducing good but, well...sigh-inducing good.

He remembers that before they started kissing regularly, what he wanted most was just to touch Archie. And yet most of the touching they've been doing lately has been confined to their mouths. Archie's lips are great and everything, but he has so much more skin than that. They both do. "Can I try something?"

"Yeah, of _course_ ," Archie tells him.

Without giving himself time to wonder whether this is really a good idea, Jughead pulls off his own flannel and t-shirt, both at once, but unlike Archie he manages not to get stuck in them. Before the shirts even hit the floor he's got himself pressed up against Archie, chest to back. For good measure, he wraps his arms around Archie's torso.

"Oh, Jesus, Jug."

"This is good?"

"You're asking me? Or...?"

Jughead rubs his cheek against the back of Archie's neck, breathes in his scent. Everything about this is so...comforting. "No. I'm saying. This is good."

"Jesus," Archie says again.

"Yeah."

If they're both quiet and still Jughead can feel, in his own chest, Archie's heart beating.

Archie isn't quiet for too long, though. Soon he's asking, "So it's good?"

"Yeah, Archie. It's good."

"What if we...Could I try..."

"What?" Jughead asks, and he's trying again to keep the skepticism out of his voice, but he's not sure he wants to try something different when how they are right now is, as they've established, good. Really, really good.

"Just...could I be the big spoon for a little while?"

Jughead furrows his brow. "I thought spooning was a lying down thing."

"Do you want to? We can totally lay down if you want to!"

Well...why not? Standing here smushed together like this would probably get uncomfortable after a while. And he's never really considered which spoon he'd rather be, but being wrapped up in Archie's arms sounds pretty great.

Archie lies down first, and he scoots way over, back against the wall, to give Jughead as much room as possible on the twin bed. Jughead lowers himself onto his side, leaning his back against Archie's chest. He catches himself sighing again, and he really should be more careful about that because it's embarrassing. Archie doesn't make fun of him or seem to mind in any way, though, so Jughead tries to just relax.

In a way it's overwhelming. Jughead has never had this much naked skin touching someone else's naked skin...well, ever. It should freak him out maybe—or turn him on—but mostly it just makes him feel safe and comfortable. So, actually, he surprises himself by not even having to _try_ to relax. Archie's breath is all warm and humid on his shoulder, and after a minute or two Archie's moving his arm, lightly stroking Jughead's chest with his fingertips. Jughead barely registers any self-consciousness, even though he's normally very aware of what his chest looks like compared to Archie's, but he can't really care much when it just feels so good. Another sigh escapes him, except it comes out more like a whimper, and now he really has screwed up because Archie freezes, just stops moving his hand at all.

Jughead is about to apologize, but Archie speaks first. "Can I kiss you, Jug?"

Why is Jughead surprised and relieved? Was he actually expecting Archie to mock him? He answers, "Of course," and then Archie is pulling him in tighter and feverishly covering his shoulders and the back of his neck with sloppy, wet kisses. Now Jughead is really surprised—this isn't at all how they usually kiss. As he shifts a little in reaction to Archie tugging on him, his butt brushes against Archie's crotch. He blurts it out as soon as he notices: "Archie, you're hard." Obviously it's not the first time this has happened to Archie when they've made out, but it is the first time Jughead has _felt_ it.

Archie goes, "Oh, god," and buries his face between Jughead's shoulder blades.

Jughead tries to roll over, to turn to toward Archie to tell him it's okay, he doesn't have to be embarrassed. Somehow this leads to the two of them facing each other, Archie with one knee hitched up over Jughead's thigh and sort of...sort of grinding against it. Jughead is beyond shocked and, not knowing what else to do, holds perfectly still.

Archie grinds against him for what feels like a really long time but is almost certainly less than a minute. Then he stops suddenly and looks in Jughead's eyes with such panic that all Jughead can think to do is reassure him, "It's okay, Arch."

And maybe Archie takes this as permission to continue, or maybe he's not even aware he's doing it, but he grinds hard against Jughead's thigh two, three more times and his body goes rigid as he lets out a stuttering groan.

The reality of what just happened hits Jughead suddenly as he feels a rapidly growing warm, damp spot on his leg. He scrambles up and out of the bed.

Archie reaches for him, but he's too slow. He gives him a dazed, confused look for a second before realization dawns and he sits bolt upright. "Jughead! I'm so...I thought...Oh my god!"

"Don't worry about it," Jughead says automatically, no idea if he means it or not. He stands there uncertainly for a few seconds before taking off down the hall to the bathroom. He closes the door and—although he knows it's completely unnecessary—locks it behind himself. He studies himself in the mirror, as if his reflection will somehow tell him how to react.

It's a full two or three minutes later before he hears Archie outside the door going, "Jug? Are you okay?"

"Fine!" Jughead calls back. Snapped out of his staring-at-himself trance, he tears off some toilet paper and tries to dry off the spot on his jeans. It's barely even damp, actually, which doesn't make sense because he can feel it so distinctly on his thigh.

"I'm so sorry, Jug! I thought...God, I don't even know what I was thinking. I _wasn't_ thinking, I was just..."

Jughead turns on the faucet for no particular reason. He looks at the door and actually has to convince himself that of course Archie isn't going to try to open it before he undoes his jeans and pushes them down enough to dab at the spot on his thigh with some toilet paper. The dry paper does nothing to make him feel less weird, so he gets a fresh wad wet under the faucet and scrubs at the spot, then dries it with more paper. He's busy trying to dry the inside of his jeans—and he hopes Archie has another roll of toilet paper somewhere, because this one is about empty already—when he realizes he needs to say something. The best he can come up with is, "It happens."

Archie mumbles something on the other side of the door.

"What?" Jughead asks.

"I said it doesn't happen to you," Archie repeats, not that much louder, but Jughead catches it this time.

He also catches something in the tone, something like...like an accusation. "What, am _I_ supposed to apologize now because I _didn't_ ejaculate all over you?" He pulls his jeans back up, and they feel just as soaked as they did before, and he flings the door open to confront Archie.

Archie doesn't look accusatory at all; he looks mortified. He says, "No, of course not, I just..."

And Jughead knows he should stay and find out what Archie just, but he kind of doesn't know how to deal with it right now. "I have to go," he says. He's ready to just walk down the stairs and out of the house, but one look at shirtless Archie reminds him that he himself is not fully dressed either. He goes back to the bedroom for his shirt, Archie following silently behind him. Jughead is usually more okay with silence than other people, but the fact that Archie isn't saying anything is kind of freaking him out, and he finds himself blabbering to fill the void. "I shouldn't have said that. I know you didn't mean it like that." He almost asks what Archie _did_ mean exactly, but he's not sure he actually wants to know. He continues to babble. "I was just surprised, that's all, and this doesn't have to be a big deal, and in fact we should probably pretend it never happened."

Archie breaks his silence then to say, "I don't know if I can do that."

"Sure you can," Jughead says, not even managing to convince himself. "Or I mean...Well, I really do have to go. If you really can't forget, then I guess we can talk about it tomorrow. If you insist."

"I'm not gonna insist, Jug. Not if insisting will push you away. I can't stand to lose your friendship again."

"Hey." Jughead surprises himself by taking Archie's hand, and he surprises himself even further by finding the touch is comforting rather than the opposite. "That's not going to happen. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Now _I'm_ insisting. I just...We could do it now, but there's this place I have to be, so..."

"You promise?" Archie asks. "Not about talking about it, you can change your mind about that if you want. I mean you promise we'll still be friends?"

"Yeah. Absolutely I promise that." Jughead's got his shirts back on now, and he kisses Archie. It's just a quick peck on the forehead, mainly to see if it still feels all right. It does. Almost all right enough that he can deal with staying and talking about what just happened right now.

Almost that all right, but not quite.


End file.
